in Print

Summer is a great time to catch up on the edifying non-fiction that has stacked up on our desks. Here are a few new reads our editors are taking with them on vacation—even at the risk of looking extra-nerdy at the beach. Check out our Fall 2022 issue for their reviews!

In keeping with our education theme, we’re inviting you, our readers, to join our informal summer reading group and report back on a favorite design- or architecture-related book that you read this summer. Send your 250-word review, including the title/author of the book and your name/affiliation, to editor@aiany.org by August 22, and we’ll include your piece or a quote from it in the next “In Print.”

—The Editors

The Nexus: Augmented Thinking for a Complex World—The New Convergence of Art, Technology, and Science

by Julio Mario Ottino with Bruce Mau
The MIT Press (May 2022)
$44.95 (Hardcover)

“We want to move from the narrow thinking that equates creative output with products: writers with novels, scientists with some unique discovery, architects with buildings, and so on. In each of these examples, the process that leads to the product is more important than the product; learning how others think is the main lesson.”

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

by Alexandra Lange  
Bloomsbury (June 2022)
$28 (Hardcover)

“In subsidizing the home and the road, the government failed to subsidize a place to gather. Something essential to human nature had been missed: People love to be in public, with other people. That momentary joy I felt seeing happy families is the core of the mall’s strength, and the essence of its ongoing utility. In postwar suburban America, the mall was the only structure designed to fill that need. People and money and controversy and larger and larger structures followed. So, in its turn, did the culture. The late 20th-century United States doesn’t make sense without the mall.”

The Carbon Almanac: It's Not Too Late

by The Carbon Almanac Network, foreword by Seth Godin
Portfolio (July 2022)
thecarbonalmanac.org/book
$18 (Paperback; all commissions go to charity)
Educators’ Guide
thecarbonalmanac.org
Free (PDF)

A compendium on climate change that brings together articles by more than 300 expert contributors, The Carbon Almanac is one of the most thorough—and accessible—new resources available. According to its editors, it is “an organized collection of facts, tables, history, quotes, explanations, illustrations, and cartoons with the concise data you need to form a knowledgeable opinion.” In addition to the book, which launched July 12, readers can download a free Educators’ Guide and kids’ book, view an associated podcast, and subscribe to a daily newsletter.

Welcome to the Grind: A Guide for New and Recent Architecture School Graduates

By Vitruvius Grind
PDF available for free at https://welcometothegrind.space
Print edition forthcoming from Big Cartel, $25

“So what’s next for you?” A recent graduate dreading this question may find relief in a new comprehensive guide for life after architecture school. Welcome to the Grind is a free resource from The Hustle Architect, aka Vitruvius Grind. The author is known for sharing thoughts on Twitter and through the newsletter “Premium Grind,” on how to keep up and stay motivated while working in architecture. The guide includes everything a fresh graduate or young professional might need to know about finding a job, applying for graduate school, and the more elusive question of how to make a life for oneself. Speaking directly to young professionals in the introduction, Vitruvius Grind shares the hope that, “If there’s lasting value in this guide, it’s in this hard-won wisdom from those who’ve been in your shoes before.”

While there are countless resources out there, this guide brings it all together in one place with charming ’70s-inspired graphics and illustrations. The guide is available to pre-order in print or as a free PDF download.—Clara Gross